(MENAFN- Gulf Times) There is a need for more home-grown Information Technology (IT) talent and for regional universities to build courses around complicated business challenges such as big data analysis.
The issue was among other significant topics discussed during the two-day 'Qatar Big Data & Analytics Workshops' held on June 7 and 8 at the Marriott Hotel here.
The workshops and masterclasses, designed to reinforce the importance of new Qatari IT investment in business intelligence and big data, also noted that the shortage of talent has become a key issue and data scientists are becoming "rare commodities".
During the event, delegates learned about scores of important cases that were relevant to their own professional interests, as well as intensive seminars on data visualisation and data science.
Practical illustrations that dealt with specific issues covered education, transport, telecom, utilities, IT, airline, banking, energy, sports, healthcare, and retail sectors.
The masterclasses were led by Dr Mouwafac Sidaoui, associate professor and chair of the University of San Francisco's Department of Business Analytics and Information Systems, and Dr Satyam Priyadarshy, chief data scientist at Halliburton.
The participants represented the ministries of public works, education, and transport. Other delegates were from Ooredoo, Qatar Central Bank, Qatar Investment Authority, Electricity & Co-Generation Regulatory Authority, Anti-Doping Laboratory Qatar, Qatar Olympic Committee, Qatar Petroleum, Qatargas, ictQatar, al khaliji, Hamad Medical Corporation, Aspire Zone, Landmark Group, and Gulf Mall, among others.
Kumar Ramanujam, director of conferences for event organiser, TMC, said: "The GCC has jumped a curve from business intelligence to big data. Forward-looking organisations in Qatar now have many successful proofs of concept and use cases to support future analytics planning."
The event was sponsored by Mannai Trading Company, in co-operation with Oracle Corporation.
Mannai Software Division vice president Binu MR said: "Mannai was delighted to support this initiative to expand the knowledge and application of big data and analytics in the Qatar market.
"This event has been a significant step to introducing new dynamics into
the business intelligence space. We hope that these successful workshops can be expanded into a larger forum next year."
Ramanujam said the "positive reaction" from the participants has led to the announcement of the "full-scale" Qatar Big Data & Analytics Summit to be held next year in Doha from May 22 to 24.
"Next year's Doha summit will showcase many stories of Qatar's early adopters of big data and would include 25 international presenters over three intensive days of seminars, presentations, and workshops," Ramanujam added.
Other upcoming events to be organised by TMC include the 'Oman Big Data & Analytics Workshops' slated in Muscat from October 3 to 4, and the 'Saudi Big Data Summit',' which will take place in Saudi Arabia on November 16 and 17.
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